The Trump administration (and venture capital) is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into nuclear energy companies — oftentimes the same few — hoping to spur on an energy revolution.

By Natalie Jonas

More than $10 billion has funneled into private fusion energy companies almost entirely through venture capital investment. National interest in novel energy continues to surge, galvanized by a host of fusion-favorable federal policies and massive infusions of private money.

Fusion companies have flourished in spite of having little to no tangible product because they are almost entirely backed by venture capital, an investment type known for high-risk gambles. In particular, a number of ultra-wealthy investors, nicknamed "fusion bulls," are largely fueling the fusion energy field.

"The way venture capital works is you lose money on eight out of 10 of your investments. It's a handful of deals that make a huge amount of money," said William Megginson, a professor at the University of Oklahoma specializing in energy finance. "So, venture capital firms invest in very risky, early stage technologies."

Tae Technologies, a fusion energy company that merged with Trump Media in a $6 billion deal in December, was one of twenty companies to receive federal funding from a multi-million dollar grant program meant to further invigorate fusion energy research and eventually, commercialization. The merger might result in the first publicly-traded fusion company, yet is also raising ethical questions on conflicts of interest in the administration.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) announced the creation of the Office of Fusion in November, along with multiple grant programs and a sweeping reorganization that cut the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy from the agency. The Trump administration's energy agenda and resultant grantmaking has been loudly championed — contrasted by a growing dearth of environmental guardrails.

The DoE's Energy Reactor Pilot Program, announced in June 2025, alleged that at least three of the 11 reactor projects would be online by July 4. New guidelines governing nuclear reactors, released in late February, culled multiple environmental requirements that would have applied to the reactors in the pilot program. Currently, none of the reactors will be capable of producing energy by that date.

In September 2025, the DoE announced a $134 million infusion to Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) and Fusion Innovation Research Engine (FIRE), two of multiple funding programs now under the Office of Fusion. The $6.1 million INFUSE program, which offers an 80% cost-share to support fusion energy research collaboration between companies and government-funded universities and laboratories, awarded twenty fusion energy companies between $100,000 and $500,000.

The portfolio of grantees, largely first-time recipients, was notably unvaried. Multiple companies, such as Thea Energy and Tokomak Energy, were first-time INFUSE grantees, recipients of Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program support as well as FIRE funding.

Nineteen out of the twenty INFUSE awardees were members or affiliates of the Fusion Industry Association, which spent approximately $820,000 lobbying on fusion-friendly bills (such as One Big Beautiful Bill) over the past five years, according to OpenSecrets.

HelicitySpace, which has received INFUSE funding dating back to the program's genesis in 2019, was one of only two companies to ever have a grant rescinded. HelicitySpace, which gained major investors such as Lockheed Martin and Voyager Space in 2024, was awarded in the recent grant-giving cycle. Tae Technologies, now merged with Trump Media, also received INFUSE funding.

Nuclear energy startups connected to Big Tech score millions in DoE grants

The Trump Media merger with Tae Technologies, the latter which has been backed by Google since 2015, was just one in a slew of new fusion energy partnerships with Big Tech. Tech founders have begun partnering with fusion start-ups, hoping to use their energy to fuel AI data centers. Many such partnerships involve companies who have received DoE funding, such as through the recent iteration of the INFUSE program. For example, OpenAI (through Sam Altman), Peter Thiel and Microsoft have partnered with Helion, an INFUSE grant recipient. Pacific Fusion received $900 million from an array of investors in 2024, including Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of Microsoft AI. Tae Technologies, now merged with Trump Media, also received INFUSE funding in 2025.

Chris Wright's "revolving door" movement from now former CEO of Liberty Energy and former board member of Oklo, a Sam Altman-backed fusion energy company, to current Energy Secretary has also raised ethical concerns. Oklo received three out of the eleven slots in the DoE's pilot reactor program — the only company to receive more than one. Oklo was also selected to receive Cold War-era plutonium by the DoE as part of the Advanced Nuclear Fuel Line Pilot Projects, which will be used to build a $1.7 billion reprocessing plant.

Altman, who stepped down from Oklo's board in April 2025 ahead of a potential partnership between OpenAI and Oklo, is also Helion's largest investor and a partner in Trump's Genesis Mission. Along with the creation of the Office of Fusion in November, the Trump Administration launched the "Genesis Mission" under the DoE as part of an executive order announcing "a new age of AI-accelerated innovation." The Genesis Mission explicitly cited a focus on nuclear fission and fusion energy.

In November 2025, the DoE loaned $1 billion to support Constellation Energy, a nuclear energy company, in restarting their reactor. The reactor, located on Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, sits atop the site of the country's most infamous nuclear disaster. Constellation will sell the energy produced to Microsoft.